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Friday, April 17, 2009

Ripariums: Riverbank Aquascaping

You may have heard some of the buzz surrounding ripariums, or "riverbank" tanks, which has been growing on aquascaping forums and websites lately. It wasn't till I saw Hydrophyte's Riparium Supply website that I started getting really excited. Not only are the ripariums on the site beautiful (see above and below) but they provide a really attractive alternative for growing out aquatic plants and are a fresh new approach to aquascaping (err..maybe ripascaping?).

The whole concept of a riparium is that you are simulating the bank of a riverbed or pond, without actually creating any physical dry ground (that would be a paludarium). So you get to grow your aquatic plants emersed in hanging planters, which means they grow much faster. Not only that, but aquatic plants often have very different forms when grown emersed, which means you often get completely different leaf shapes, growth patterns, and even flowers!

The best part: you can still keep fish and use your normal aquarium equipment. You can even still grow plants submerged. CO2 isn't needed either, since there's plenty of it in the atmosphere. You can also keep new animals, like freshwater crabs, amphibians, and reptiles.

You'll need some additional hardware to pot and hang the plants, but that's it. If I had an extra tank and wasn't moving in a few months, I'd definitely try this out. If you'd like to give it a whirl, check out Hydrphyte's blog for more information and updates. You can also buy some riparium hardware from the Riparium Supply store.